What was the best pass of 2009? (Video)

Overtaking in F1 is a hotly-debated subject – particularly the view that we haven’t seen much of it this year.

That isn’t necessarily the case. The video above compiles a selection of the best passes of 2009 – and there were more besides that don’t feature on there.

But which driver made the best overtaking move of 2009? Was it one of Jenson Button’s many passes? Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso’s great battle at Sepang? Or an unsung hero from further down the grid?

As we did with the best race of the decade last week, list your nominations for the best pass of 2009 below and we’ll vote on the cream of the crop later.

Here are a few of my favourites:

Hamilton on Raikkonen at Shanghai (1’37) – Around the outside in the wet. Webber did a similar pass but Hamilton did it in a worse car…

Alonso on Trulli at Bahrain (2’15) – Yes, he had KERS – but he needed aggression to make this pass work too.

Barrichello on Hamilton at Istanbul (3’03) – How far back did he come from?

Kovalainen on Fisichella at Suzuka (5’57) – Very unusual and opportunistic.

106 comments on “What was the best pass of 2009? (Video)”

Buemi stated he wouldn’t get in Buttons way pre-race so not really that hard to dive past a yielding car.

There were lots of great passes and battle all year contrary to what some of the whingers would lead you to believe.
My pick for best over taker was Webber, closely followed by Button then Hamilton all be it with a magic spurt of power at his disposal.

As to best pass…I’ll have to come back on that but, Kobies on Button was insane stuff from a rookie in a lesser car…I really like this kid.

Yeah Tommy I did wonder whether that was true or bravado.
It was a great race from him in Brazil but at same time he did mostly pass rookies. So it was good but I wasn’t stunned by it.
I liked Webber on Alonso and Alonso on Trulli. I would give Kobayashi a nod too

Hamilton passing Barrichello right by the wall at extremely high speeds at Interlagos to ensure his podium position. It also forced Barrichello to make a pitstop as he got a puncture there. Some, particularly Brazilian fans, may hate Lewis for it but there’s no denying the bravery and brilliance of it. This was after passing many other drivers as well. If I remember he started 17th and finished 3rd, which was the best recovery of 2009 I think. Button stole his thunder a little though by winning the championship on that same race.

Button passing Hamilton at Bahrain – because Lewis is not an easy man to pass and Jenson had to make that move stick in order to win the race. It was very well executed, with Button getting the car slowed down enough at the apex to stop Hamilton coming back at him.

Alonso passing Trulli at Bahrain – because it required sheer guts to make it work, not just KERS. A lesser driver than Alonso would have backed out, a lesser driver than Trulli wouldn’t have allowed enough room and both cars would have crashed.

Button passing Grosjean at Interlagos – because of the context, as well as being a very impressive move. Put yourself in Jenson’s shoes. The title is within your grasp in Brazil, but you need to finish the race and score points to clinch it. There’s a Renault ahead but is it Alonso or Grosjean? Alonso would probably be hard but fair, the last time you tangled with Grosjean you both crashed at Spa. Grosjean has absolutely nothing to lose if you both crash, he needs to impress to secure a drive for next year. You’re alongside him on the outside of a long, fast, tightening bend, barely ahead. Even if he gives you room he might accidentally drift wide and then you’ll both crash… Button had an awful lot at stake, Grosjean had nothing to lose. There may have been a few technically better or more innovative passes in 2009, but no one put as much on the line as Jenson did here. My stand out memory from the season just gone.

Yes Button negated the advantage of the McLaren’s KERS with some clever slipstreaming along the Kilometre plus straight in Bahrain & did a “Hamilton” on Hamilton into turn 1 on Lap 2 – very clever stuff :)

I do agree though Vettel wasn’t as ambitious with his car like Button. I hope Vettel takes more 50/50 chances next year – he didn’t have a problem overtaking in 07/08 and did overtake more than others this year. Just because he started in good qualifying positions means he can’t overtake apparently.

I agree, when people complain that vettle should have won over button it really irritates me, button over took in some circumstances to win races, vettle has only ever won a race from pole because he cant over take to win races, what does that say about him as a driver?

If i remember right when Vettel had to overtake to gain places it was abit hard because he had mostly had KERS cars infront of him slowing him down, it also didnt help that they stopped at the same time as him.

If you want to go into detail about drivers, how many times would you think Button would of overtaken at the start of the season if the KERS cars were not all junk and the other cars had double decker diffusers to help them out abit, I reckon Buttons overtaking ratio would of dropped by 2/3rds if he was in Vettel’s shoes at the time.

Button overtook a KERS car in Bahrain, Vettle couldnt and was trying to overtake a worse car than Button. Button had to overtake Hamilton to win the race in Bahrain because if he had have stuck behind the car like Vettle did he would have gone into the pits a similar time and ended up like vettle, this is why I am saying if Button can do it in crucial circumstances y cant the brilliant Vettle?

TommyB, get it right mate, never said he couldn’t overtake, i said he cant overtake to win races, he has only ever won from Pole!!!!! Where as Button did, Turkey he over took vettle, on first lap because of a mistake, and then when vettle was on light fuel load he could have over took the slower button to have a chance of winning race, did he? nope he cocked his race up and finished 3rd because he didnt overtake at a vital opportunity!

I semi-agree with the video – Glock’s power oversteer out of the corner (and at the Hungaroring in an unusual place) was great to watch. I also liked Webber and Alonso’s duel at Barcelona and Alonso barging past Trulli at Bahrain. The two Toyotas at Monza was amusing too, if a little clumsy.

For me though, the best move was Button on Hamilton at Bahrain. Against a car with a theoretical advantage due to KERS, it was clean, precise, fair and masterful. It’s moves like that that won him the WC.

The only one that really had me on the edge of my seat and shouting unprintable expletives at a certain Frenchman was Button overtaking Gross Jean at Interlago Brazil starting at Turn 3 and finishing at Turn 8 including a “Balls Out” move around the outside of the very fast Ferra Durra – what made this even more special was that Button was battling for the Championship at the time & under immense pressure. :)

Nice video. Can’t say I have any favourites (the Webber-Alonso battles were nice), but as much as I can appreciate the skill, it’s a little difficult to get excited over moves made on backmarkers by drivers in vastly superior machinery, so about half of the ones shown go out the window for me.

Nonsense. As has already been pointed out (and Brundle pointed out in the race) that pass was a foregone conclusion as Kobi was light, Button had full fuel, cold tyres and a braking point to re-assess. If that had been Button on anyone else, it would be “Oh Button, he’s useless, can only overtake in a faster car when the other guy is just out of the pits”.

Kobi deserves a lot of praise for that pass, and for the Abu Dhabi race in general. But putting it up there as best pass because “it was on Button and Button sucks, this proves it” tells us more about you than about the manoeuvre.

Nice compilation Mitikake. Guess I forgot there really was a lot of really good overtaking and dicing this year! Could it be the cars actually are closer to each other in performance? (KERS excepted of course.)

1. Webber on Alonso – Spain. Simply outstanding race craft from Webber (in fact through most of the season) I hope he can keep up his game for a good couple of years at least.
2. Kobayashi on Nakajima – Brazil. Shows skill and control without being too dangerous here on his first ever F1 race (must have wounded Nakajima’s pride badly).
3. Kovalinen on Fisichella – Japan. If only Heikki had shown this level of hunger/determination all season.

Button on Grosjean was up there too and I do appreciate the context and the gamble there, but for me it wasn’t a terribly exciting or difficult/complex overtaking manoeuvre, more a risky one. Similarly was tempted to put Kobayashi on Button but Button was heavily fuelled and on cold tyres.
For best defensive driving Webber over Button, Abu Dhabi, some excellent race craft and Kimi’s defending the lead from the faster Force India at Spa.

i also really liked button on grosjean in brazil; great bravery and skill. also, button on kubica at suzuka was brilliant braking control by both drivers: to move around in the braking zone with such precision is breath taking.

number one is webber’s defense in barcelona just for sheer buttock-clenching excitement.

i think this season was a good year for on track scraps, just a shame the championship lacked any drama. 1997, for example, was the exact reverse.

[quote]Hamilton on Raikkonen at Shanghai (1′37) – Around the outside in the wet. Webber did a similar pass but Hamilton did it in a worse car…[/quote]

Yes, he did do it in a worse car than Webber did, but the car he was passing was also worse than the one Webber passed. It’s all relative. I’m not saying it wasn’t an impressive pass, because it was impressive and ballsy, but not more impressive than Webber’s who managed to pass the best car by far at that point.

I quite liked the Hamilton-Alonso scrap in Silverstone. For the lowly classification they were fighting for, to come out with a clean fight between these two specifically, was really nice to see.

I haven’t seen in the clip Liuzzi going round the outside on Kova in the Parabolica, Monza, at the end of first lap. Brilliant manoeuver, from a pilot more than one year out of the races, and driving a force india.

one of best pass in 2009 for me is Hamilton on Alonso @ Silverstone, I definitely like fast corner overtakes